GOO GOO DOLLS Let Love In

The late 1990s will be remembered as a nadir in the history of rock music, with nü-metal and bland alternative bands churning out hits. The Goo Goo Dolls, remnants of that musical dross, have released their latest. The band’s last memorable album was Dizzy Up the Girl. The newest release, Let Love In, begins with the typical strumming of guitars and monophonic keyboard lines. Imminently, the vocals of Johnny Rzeznik enter, with saccharine, forgettable lyrics. In fact, all 11 tracks off Let Love In sound like pale knockoffs of their first major hit, 1998’s “Iris.” “Iris,” however, is a far better song — both lyrically and instrumentally — than anything off their recent album.

The cover of Supertramp’s “Give a Little Bit” and “Strange Love” stand out, but not for the content. For the former, Rzeznik and Co. manage to mold a memorable song into their brand of alternative pseudo-rock. With the latter, Depeche Mode ought to sue; a mere space is not a sufficient excuse for using a title similar to that of a classic pop song. The Goo Goo Dolls forgot to borrow any of the hooks that make the ’80s synth-pop song still sound fresh after almost two decades. If only “Iris” could sound that good in 2018. Grade: D

— Irene Test, Muse Staff

THE STREETS The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living

The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living, the third album from British rapper Mike Skinner a.k.a. The Streets, sacrifices Skinner’s trenchant observations on everyday life, found in its predecessors Original Pirate Material and A Grand Don’t Come For Free (the latter was the recipient of a Brit Award) for unlikable, plodding and cliché examinations of fame and its lifestyle implications.

What’s worse, though, is that Skinner’s production, previously consistently engaging if not utterly remarkable, has grown dangerously erratic: Opener “Prangin’ Out” is a brilliant mash of garage and soul, but the goodwill it generates is amply diluted by the limp “All Goes Out The Window” and the callous, hookless mess that backs the distinctly unpleasant “Can’t Con an Honest John.” Where The Streets’ debut was charming and affable, and his follow-up endearing and affecting, The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living is a navel-gazing and unappealing bore. Grade: C-

— Vladimir Jornitski, Muse Staff